“Tomorrow is the first blank page of a 365 page book. Write a good one.” –Brad Paisley

This post was written by a Carrie Elizabeth contributor, Lauren Peterson.

As 2014 comes to an end, the world of social media has once again seen massive changes. With 2015 quickly approaching, it is time to prepare your company’s social media strategy. Below are 5 key ways to prepare for 2015:

 1.  Look ahead of the trends

While some trends from 2014 will spill over into the New Year, it is important to look ahead into the 2015 trends. To name a few:

• Converged media will become the norm. All social channels will blend together and content will work across channels. Companies will need to stay consistent with messaging, uniformity and campaigns to drive engagement.
• Social advertising will increase. The organic reach of content published on corporate Facebook pages will continue to decline, while spending on social networks continues to rise. If brands want to hold the viewer’s attention, they must put edgy, high quality content in front of their customers and spend money on social media advertising.
• Growing interest in image tracking. Images and videos are more appealing than just plain text. Instagram is continuing to grow with image-based content and that’s what companies need to focus on. Viral videos are also on the rise and a good rule of thumb is: the more emotional, the better. As the number of videos rise, so does the need for image tracking.
• Content and connection-based networks are gravitating towards each other. LinkedIn was more about connection than content, however that is changing. Networks have taken to integrating both into their platform.

 2.  Look at the BIG picture

It is vital to look into your company’s goals and initiatives for the New Year. Make a list of how your social strategy will play a part in those goals and how it can enhance your presence. Sometimes we get stuck looking at the day to day, but looking ahead at the big picture will help you streamline a more cohesive strategy across all social channels. Take that blank 365 page book and begin creating your own story!

 3.  Develop an editorial content calendar

 Make sure to map out your editorial content calendar. Create a theme that streamlines throughout the year and becomes recognizable to your customers. Social media marketers realize the importance of content marketing and how it has become the most effective way to expand reach and visibility of your content. Map out promotions you want to run throughout 2015, events that surround them and sales goals. 2015 is a blank canvas and you have the opportunity to create compelling content to tell your story this year!

4.  Create New Year’s Resolutions for your social media strategy

It is important to make resolutions for your company. What do you want to work on specifically? Is it a content calendar, bigger presence on Facebook or Twitter? Look inward as a social media community manager or marketer to find areas for improvement. Jot down your resolutions and post them near your work station. This will give you a constant reminder to meet those goals throughout 2015!

 5.  Use analytics to track your progress

At the end of the day, we all want to know how our business is performing on social media networks. Below are several analytics tools that help demonstrate value from your social media channels.

• Hootsuite is a great way to organize and manage all social channels. It’s a one stop shop to post and gather analytics for a company like yours!
• Utilize the advanced segment features within Google Analytics. Collect information about how each social channel is performing with respect to driving traffic and conversations on a website.
• Zuum primarily provides competitive analytics for Facebook pages. Zuum can also see performance by post to find out which posts earn the most Comments, Likes and Shares.
• Retweet Rank is obviously a Twitter analytics tool. Retweet Rank shows a trend line for retweets, the particular posts that have been retweeted and a list of the most influential accounts to share our content on Twitter.
• TailWind allows you to monitor Pinterest follower growth and repin behavior over a specific time period, and monitor repin quantities for boards and individual pins.

Time to start planning! Cheers to 2015!